Anonymous
04/02/2018 12:54
Subject: Re:Shining Stars Waitlist
Do you find that the 4th-6th classroom loses a lot of kids, and is the experience negatively affected?
I think its too soon to say; this year's 6th graders are the hearty few remaining from the first year that the school opened. I think that any elementary-only school is going to have some churn after 4th grade because of how charter middle schools are structured in this city.
I will say that because of the aforementioned moves, and some leadership drama several years ago, there has already been a fair amount of turnover in the older grades and the teachers have done a pretty good job of getting new kids up to speed on Montessori techniques. I haven't had any complaints on that front.
More generally (you may know this already, so I apologize if I'm #actuallying you here), there's just more turnover overall at all grades in almost every DC elementary school than you probably remember from when your school from when you were a kid. I think its just endemic to the way DC does school choice.
Anonymous
04/02/2018 12:28
Subject: Re:Shining Stars Waitlist
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I'm an earlier poster, not the last one, but we do have kids at SSMA.
For middle school we'll just rank all of the acceptable charter and public middles for the fifth grade lottery, apply and hope for the best. If we don't get in for fifth, we have a year and the means to at least pay application fees to parochial schools, as well, and we'll have to make a decision about cost and fit at places like that if it comes to it.
We could also have moved by then, or there will be a new charter middle available, or one of several other things. I hope you don't think I'm being snarky either, but I think that a lot of people on this board with kids below, say, third grade place a LOT of emphasis and worry about middle-and-high school paths. Unless you've got a 3rd/4th/5th grader, I say pick a place where you actually like the younger elementary set-up and then worry about crossing that bridge closer to the actual date of arrival.
Thank you. I really appreciate knowing, as DD has a sort-of-ok number for K at SSMA and I'm not sure what to expect. I do think preschool parents stress too much about this, but for K or 1st, I think it's a fair concern. Do you find that the 4th-6th classroom loses a lot of kids, and is the experience negatively affected?
Right now, it's very hard to tell. The school has greatly expanded the primary classes (seven now I think), but is much more limited in size in the upper grades. They've added multiple of the primary classrooms in the last two years with their move to the permanent location, so the younger kids are simply not old enough yet.
Anonymous
04/02/2018 12:19
Subject: Re:Shining Stars Waitlist
Anonymous wrote:I'm an earlier poster, not the last one, but we do have kids at SSMA.
For middle school we'll just rank all of the acceptable charter and public middles for the fifth grade lottery, apply and hope for the best. If we don't get in for fifth, we have a year and the means to at least pay application fees to parochial schools, as well, and we'll have to make a decision about cost and fit at places like that if it comes to it.
We could also have moved by then, or there will be a new charter middle available, or one of several other things. I hope you don't think I'm being snarky either, but I think that a lot of people on this board with kids below, say, third grade place a LOT of emphasis and worry about middle-and-high school paths. Unless you've got a 3rd/4th/5th grader, I say pick a place where you actually like the younger elementary set-up and then worry about crossing that bridge closer to the actual date of arrival.
Thank you. I really appreciate knowing, as DD has a sort-of-ok number for K at SSMA and I'm not sure what to expect. I do think preschool parents stress too much about this, but for K or 1st, I think it's a fair concern. Do you find that the 4th-6th classroom loses a lot of kids, and is the experience negatively affected?
Anonymous
04/02/2018 12:19
Subject: Re:Shining Stars Waitlist
Anonymous wrote:I'm an earlier poster, not the last one, but we do have kids at SSMA.
For middle school we'll just rank all of the acceptable charter and public middles for the fifth grade lottery, apply and hope for the best. If we don't get in for fifth, we have a year and the means to at least pay application fees to parochial schools, as well, and we'll have to make a decision about cost and fit at places like that if it comes to it.
We could also have moved by then, or there will be a new charter middle available, or one of several other things. I hope you don't think I'm being snarky either, but I think that a lot of people on this board with kids below, say, third grade place a LOT of emphasis and worry about middle-and-high school paths. Unless you've got a 3rd/4th/5th grader, I say pick a place where you actually like the younger elementary set-up and then worry about crossing that bridge closer to the actual date of arrival.
I'm the immediate PP. I wish I knew what other SSMA family this was, because I love the way you think.
Anonymous
04/02/2018 12:18
Subject: Re:Shining Stars Waitlist
I'm an earlier poster, not the last one, but we do have kids at SSMA.
For middle school we'll just rank all of the acceptable charter and public middles for the fifth grade lottery, apply and hope for the best. If we don't get in for fifth, we have a year and the means to at least pay application fees to parochial schools, as well, and we'll have to make a decision about cost and fit at places like that if it comes to it.
We could also have moved by then, or there will be a new charter middle available, or one of several other things. I hope you don't think I'm being snarky either, but I think that a lot of people on this board with kids below, say, third grade place a LOT of emphasis and worry about middle-and-high school paths. Unless you've got a 3rd/4th/5th grader, I say pick a place where you actually like the younger elementary set-up and then worry about crossing that bridge closer to the actual date of arrival.
For middle school we'll just rank all of the acceptable charter and public middles for the fifth grade lottery, apply and hope for the best. If we don't get in for fifth, we have a year and the means to at least pay application fees to parochial schools, as well, and we'll have to make a decision about cost and fit at places like that if it comes to it.
We could also have moved by then, or there will be a new charter middle available, or one of several other things. I hope you don't think I'm being snarky either, but I think that a lot of people on this board with kids below, say, third grade place a LOT of emphasis and worry about middle-and-high school paths. Unless you've got a 3rd/4th/5th grader, I say pick a place where you actually like the younger elementary set-up and then worry about crossing that bridge closer to the actual date of arrival.
Anonymous
04/02/2018 12:14
Subject: Re:Shining Stars Waitlist
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The school did drop, but it was because of a (hopefully one-year) drop in their attendance score; PARCC scores were actually up a good bit over the year before. However, because the older grades are fairly small, the PARCC score either didn't count toward the school's overall score (or counted less? I don't know) and was rated ridiculously heavily toward attendance.
I do think its fair, then, to criticize the school's leadership for not placing EXTRA heavy emphasis on attendance (although at some point what are you going to do? I don't think they should be expelling anyone over it), but that's story behind the drop.
We're a current family and the school has been putting a huge emphasis on attendance. Lots of emails and reminders about the importance of attendance. Not sure if it's helping or not.
--
I think much of the issue with SSMA is the school had a rough start with many moves, so it never became a "DCUM darling." Many folks are happy to take it as a PK3/PK4 option, but continue to try and lottery out. The school has done a lot recently to try and correct for that, including several parent days where they review 1st-3rd grade curriculum and discussions on Lower Elementary. A number of families are now also staying for the long-term with the permanent location. The school is way undervalued in our view and we're happy to be there.
What will you do for middle school, PP? Not trying to be snarky, I am just curious.
We aren't clear yet, but think we have several good options.
1-Shining Stars ideally wants to expand to 8th grade, so that'd be an option.
2-Perhaps the Montessori Middle/High gets created and becomes an option.
3-We decide to move upper NW to be inbound for Deal/Wilson.
4-We move to the suburbs.
We are still four years away, so I can't find myself stressing about something that far in the future. How can I know what middle school will be best for my kid when they're still in Lower Elementary?
We know we'll eventually need a bigger house anyway, so when we get to that point in a few years we'll reevaluate and purchase a house accordingly.